Sparkled Beauty

Vichy Normaderm line is dedicated to imperfection-prone skin, like it understands my pain of dealing with acne almost my whole adult life.

I am old enough to say I am too old for acne, but unfortunately acne does not discriminate based on age and it still plays with my heart (and face).

I have reviewed quite a number of Normaderm products on the blog, especially worth mentioning are the Hydrating acne care and the micellar solution. The line has 2 brand new products that arrived just in time to rescue me. If you are brave enough, stay tuned till the end to see my almost-bare face with only one product on :)

Top: Normaderm Cleansing mattifying foam. Bottom: Normaderm BB Clear in 2 shades.

The purpose: conceal imperfections and treat acne at the same time.

The Normaderm cleansing mattifying foam would start my acne skin care routine, meant to exfoliate and eliminate impurities (including residual makeup and excess sebum) with salicylic acid.

The water to foam texture is easy to use and rinse, and does what it does what it promises to do. Personally, I have always been wary about foaming cleansers drying out the skin, hence did not use the product every day and it turned out fine.

I don't particularly find the skin looking matte after washing but since I always follow it up with other skin care products, I don't really need the cleanser to be matte anyway.

Ingredients: Water, Dipropylene Glycol, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, PEG-200 Hydrogenated Glyceryl Palmate, PEG-30 Glyceryl Cocoate, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Potassium Chloride, Triethanolamine, Salicylic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, etc.

The foam is oil/ soap/ paraben/ alcohol free, 150ml, $19.95.

And then there is Normaderm BB Clear anti-acne unifying beauty balm, available in Light and Medium, with:

- 2% salicylic acid (anti imperfection active ingredient)
- Mineral pigments: melt into the skin for a natural coverage (no mask effect)
- Anti-bacterial/ sebum-regulating zinc: decongests pores, removes dead skin cells, slows down sebum production and stimulates cellular renewal
- Kaolin and silica: absorb excess sebum and neutralize shine.

BB Clear, with a light powdery non-greasy texture, is formulated to help mattify the skin, conceal imperfections and treats acne. On me, it is more about evening out the skin tone than concealing, since my imperfection requires a serious concealer with good coverage. It would be perfect for you if acne is only a temporary issue and you want light natural-looking makeup.

Here are BB Clear in Light and Medium, in comparison with Vichy Idealia BB cream in Medium.

BB Clear is a little lighter in texture, making it very easy to blend. The matte finish only lasts until about lunch time for me, or extra an hour or 2 with a primer, though.

Idealia BB cream has pink pigments to correct the grey tone in the skin and is not matte.

Ingredients: Water, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Glycerin, Diisostearyl Malate, Kaolin, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Salicylic Acid, PEG-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, PEG-10 Dimethicone, PEG-9 Zinc Gluconate, etc.

BB Clear is paraben free, 40ml, $19.95.

Here is the forewarned bare face with just one coat each of these 3 BB creams - Normaderm BB Clear in Light on the forehead, Medium on my left side of the face and Idealia BB cream in Medium on the right side of the face.

Once blended out, Light and Medium shades both work for my skin tone, mostly because of the light coverage. And I end up liking both BB creams - the Normaderm version a bit more while I am breaking out (been wearing it for a few weeks now with a concealer) but the Idealia version is always an option for better skin days.

I will follow up with a FOTD tomorrow, with more makeup on of course :)